The good news is that the MileSAAver level of awards is not affected from what I’m seeing. For those with flexibility and who can search for the cheap award seats that should be comforting. For those who use the AAnytime awards on occasion, however, the news is mixed. AAnytime awards are now split into three tiers and only two of the tiers are published. The third tier is represented on the chart simply as a star with the fine print:

*AAnytime Level 3 awards are offered on a few select dates and will require higher number of miles to redeem.

The other two levels might benefit some customers. The Level 1 AAnytime awards are comparable or less expensive in much of the Americas. For premium fares to South America, Europe and Asia the Level 1 AAnytime awards are higher. And then there are Level 2 AAnytime awards, where the rates are higher almost universally (I see three where it doesn’t go up).

15 Responses

Took almost 3 hrs last night to book award trip to Hawaii last night. talked to 4 separate booking agents, spent 45 min. on hold at one point. Worst booking experience EVER! PLease southwest start flying to Hawaii SOON – American experience was awful and sucked way too many points to find a decent flight!

Just booked a flight for our grand-daughter to fly from Santa Ana to DFW for June 28. Socked it to me 50,000 miles for one-way coach ticket. The mysterious Level 3 award. There were 80 available seats on the flight we booked. There were NO flight from Santa Ana allowing any redemption of miles, other than, at the Level 3 “SOCK IT TO YOU” award.

Where’s the outrage over Elite USAirways flyers now being charge up to $100 each way – in addition to the miles required – to upgrade? Starting April 24 – that’s a low blow, and has devalued our mileage program greatly, with 2 weeks notice.